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Western Illinois University Athletics

vs NDSU Game 1 700.4190
WIU Visual Productions Center
0
North Dakota State NDSU 7-10
2
Winner Western Illinois WIU 1-12
North Dakota State NDSU
7-10
0
Final
2
Western Illinois WIU
1-12
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
North Dakota State NDSU 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 1
Western Illinois WIU 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 2 6 0

W: Koch, Ian (1-4) L: Riley Johnson (2-3) S: Dorethy, Alex (1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

A Home-Opening, Conference-Opening Win

Playing in front of their home crowd for the first time this year, the Leathernecks earned a 2-0 victory over North Dakota State.

MACOMB, Ill. – "Trust the process." Western Illinois' head baseball coach Ryan Brownlee has relayed that message to his team all season, and on Saturday afternoon (March 17), while playing in front of their home crowd for the first time this year, the Leathernecks earned a 2-0 victory over North Dakota State.
 
The success not only marked their first of the year, but their first in Summit League play.
 
"If you're in this thing long enough, you know that it'll turn around at some point," said Brownlee. "It's easy to look at the record, and get down on the things that aren't going our way, but I've felt good about this group the whole year, and that hasn't changed because we had a rough stretch.
 
"Overall, it was a really good game, but that's how our games against North Dakota State have always been. Our games are always tight and highly-contested, where you've got to pitch and play defense, and do a good job with two-out RBI situations, which we did today. I'm really happy for our guys, they've hung in there; we've just got to continue."
 
In their first opportunities at the plate, Western struck the scoreboard for both of its runs. Steve McShane led off the inning with a single to third base -- extending his current hitting streak to eight games – and scored two at-bats later on a two-out, RBI-double by Justin Fitzpatrick.
 
Fitzpatrick later took advantage of a fielding error by NDSU's short stop to tack in the second run.
 
In the opposing dugout, the Bison concluded the game with 12 runners left on base. The shutout was due in large part to stellar pitching from Ian Koch and Alex Dorethy.
 
North Dakota State loaded the bases in the sixth inning with a walk, fielder's choice, and hit by pitch, but left all three stranded after Koch escaped the jam with a swinging strikeout. Dorethy relieved him in the seventh, and allowed just one baserunner until the ninth inning.
 
The Bison recorded back-to-back singles to open the final frame, and the next two at-bats belonged to Western as the side was retired with a strikeout, pick off and ground out.
 
"Ian was great today. He's grown a lot, still room for improvement, but his bullpens this week were good. He got back under control and really bought in to what we're trying to do. Alex has been great all year. He's a kid that we had to redshirt last year because of injury, but he's been great at throwing a lot of strikes and forcing the opponent to swing the bat."
 
Western continues its home-opening, conference-opening weekend against North Dakota State with a Sunday doubleheader. Game one is scheduled for 12 p.m.
 
 
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